Overview

Mine Type	Open Pit
Stage	Permitting
Commodities	Copper Gold
Mining Method	Truck & Shovel / Loader
Mine Life	...
Snapshot	The Hillside Project is the largest fully permitted and shovel ready copper project. The development of the Hillside Project has been split into several stages. The Optimised Feasibility and Definition Phase Engineering Study (OFS), completed on 14 December 2022, updated Stage 1 plans to improve production and cost efficiency. Stage 2 extends the mine life to 22 years, incorporating a Coarse Particle Flotation circuit to increase ore throughput. Prospective Stages 3 and 4 may further extend the mine life beyond 40 years with additional resources, although feasibility studies remain pending. A solar farm feasibility study for the Hillside Project was completed in March 2024. Construction plans for the tailings storage facility were also finalized.

Deposit type

• IOCG
• Skarn

Summary:

Hillside is an Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold (IOCG) style deposit, located within the Moonta Subdomain of the Olympic Dam Cu-Au Province on the eastern Gawler Craton of South Australia.

The geological framework at Hillside is dominated by due north trending faulting and geological contacts. These dominant trends are disrupted by a number of north-west and north-east striking faults which appear to have an influence on the host rocks, alteration and the copper-gold mineralisation.

Copper-gold mineralisation is hosted by a sequence of intensely altered skarns and metasediments. The primary copper zones comprise parallel, steeply-dipping structures of massive, disseminated and dispersed sulphide dominated by chalcopyrite with subordinate bornite and chalcocite.

Secondary (oxide) copper exhibits flat lying to steeply dipping orientations immediately above primary copper mineralisation dominated by malachite with subordinate azurite, cuprite, atacamite, chrysocolla, copper in chlorite and native copper.

Mineralisation which predominantly strikes north-south has so far been observed over the area of 2.3km north-south length and a 900m west-east width. At least four structures with individual coppermineralised strike lengths of +2.0km have been defined to date. Copper mineralisation within all structures remains open along strike and at depth, and has been observed from as shallow as 5m below surface to 710m below surface with true widths estimated to be in the order of 1 to 130m with an average true ore domain thickness of 27m.

Mineralisation
Primary copper mineralisation at Hillside comprises sub-parallel steeply-dipping, structurally controlled zones of massive sulphide, dominated by chalcopyrite with subordinate bornite and chalcocite. Gold occurs generally as inclusions within pyrite and along chalcopyrite grain boundaries. Uranium is present at relatively low levels within the orebody averaging around 50 parts per million (“ppm”).

Mineralisation is predominantly hosted in variably altered skarns, representing altered and folded carbonate rocks. Alteration and mineralisation are interpreted to be associated with alteration and hydrothermal fluids associated with the Gawler Range/Hiltaba volcanic-plutonic event around 1570-1600Ma. Certain areas of high-grade mineralisation are interpreted to represent re-mobilisation and concentration of copper-gold-iron mineralisation and are typically associated with the western side of the deposit adjacent to the PPF and areas of brecciation and repeated faulting/mobilisation.

Mineralisation occurs over a 2.3km north-south strike within a 900m wide east-west corridor. Copper mineralisation occurs from within 5m of surface to a drill-indicated depth of over 700m; the mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike. Individual lode widths vary from 1m to 130m. While the predominant strike is north-south and sub-vertical, a zone of shallow mineralisation has been identified at the southern end of the deposit (Leprena) with an apparent east-west strike.

Near surface, oxide copper mineralisation occurs above the primary sulphides, comprising malachite, azurite, cuprite, atacamite, chrysocolla and native copper. Oxide copper mineralisation occurs predominantly towards the eastern zones of mineralisation associated with deeper oxidation of the sulphides. A discontinuous transition zone, consisting predominantly of secondary copper sulphides chalcocite and covellite with minor bornite and native copper, occurs between the oxide and primary sulphide zones.

Dimensions
Primary mineralisation zones within the Hillside deposit are sub-parallel to the lithostratigraphic architecture.

Primary Hillside mineralisation strikes approximately north-south and has variable steep dips (70 to 80 degrees) to the west and occasionally east. Leprena mineralisation strikes approximately east-west and dips (60 – 70 degrees) to the north.

Secondary mineralisation strikes approximately north-south and tends to be steeply dipping immediately above primary mineralisation and in zones grading to flat lying to shallow dipping dispersion zones (on average 10 to 30 degrees).

Mineralisation has so far been observed from 6173130N to 6175500N, 763150E to 764000E and 60RL to -710RL. Approximately 90% - 95% of the total target size (at surface) has been tested and the deposit remains open towards the north and south and at depth.

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

Operational metrics

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Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
.......................	.......................		Jan 23, 2025
.......................	.......................		Jan 23, 2025
.......................	.......................		Jan 23, 2025

Total Workforce	Year
......	2022